JANARDANA HAND WELTED BOOTS

JANARDANA HAND WELTED BOOTS

As supporters of artisan craftsmanship, we are proud to announce the arrival of Janardan's latest piece, "The Hand Welted Derby Boot".

The mid-cut silhouette boot has a four hole lace up fastening and has been hand sewn in a black textured mustang horse leather upper with a Rendenbach oak bark tanned leather sole. Aside from the simplistic silhouette and beautifully textured leather the part that takes this boot to the next level is the step up in the sole construction. Previously working with an exposed Blake stitch sole unit Janardana has expanded his skill set and crafted this pair of boots on hand welted sole unit.

You may hear the term "Hand-welted Goodyear" used often from footwear brands which is actually incorrect. Goodyear implicates the use of a Goodyear welt-stitching machine.

Janardana has embarked on a new phase of his journey, staying true to his roots and hand stitching his welts, to enhance the flexibility of the boot. Hand welting is amongst the most difficult hand sewing techniques in the leather manufacturing trade.

Besides its trickiness, the process is time consuming. There are roughly 160 stitches to be made on a single pair and it takes approximately 40 minutes for a skilled cobbler to do them.

The welt is sewn at the edge of the running surface of the lasted boot, which at that point looks like a boot without a sole and its technical purpose is to fix the upper to the insole and at the same time, provide a flat band around the boot for the actual sole to be stitched on. So the upper, insole and welt are stitched together with one seam. At this point shoe specific thread is sewn through the welt, the upper, and the insole rib. With a separate stitch, the welt is attached to the outsole. For both of these stitching points, a lockstitch is commonly used, meaning the chain won’t unravel if it breaks down at any particular point in the boot.

The two level stitching makes it incredibly easy to resole a welted boot as the welt acts as a buffer between the insole and the outsole, removing the old sole and attaching a new one can be done easily by hand and without the use of a machine. The extra layers make the shoe far more water resistant and supportive maintaining a longer boot has a longer lifespan.